An independent human rights group said that 15 massacres took place in Syria in July, seven of which were carried out by the Assad regime and the Iranian terrorist militias. The massacres claimed the lives of 219 people, including 38 children and 30 women.

In a new report issued on Wednesday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said the Assad regime forces and their allied Iranian militias committed seven massacres, while extremist militant groups committed six others. It also said that the Russian forces committed one massacre, while another massacre was committed by “unknown parties.”

According to SNHR’s report, five massacres took place in Dara’a, five in Suwayda, two in Deir Ezzor, and one in each of Aleppo Quneitra provinces.

The massacres claimed the lives of 219 people, including 38 children and 30 women, the majority of whom were killed by the ISIS extremist group, the monitoring group said.

The report indicated that on July 25 Suweida saw a surprise attack by ISIS militants who killed more than 200 civilians and local loyalist militants.

The figure has brought to 201 the number of massacres committed in Syria since the beginning of 2018, with the Assad regime forces and their allied militias responsible for the majority of these massacres.

Out of 163 countries, Syria was ranked the least peaceful country in the world on the 2018 World Peace Index. The Syrian Coalition stressed that the continued massacres of the Assad regime and the inability of the international community to stop them would constitute an obstacle to reaching a political solution that is needed to ensure the return of security and stability to the region.

The Network called for the launch of an international investigation into the massacres as it said it stood ready to contribute to these investigations and provide investigators with the necessary information. (Source: Syrian Coalitions’ Media Department)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that it had recorded no fewer than 21 attacks on vital civilian centers in Syria in July.

In a new report published on Wednesday, the monitoring group said that the Assad regime was responsible for 52.38 percent of these attacks, while each of the hardline militant groups and the international anti-ISIS coalition forces were responsible for 4.76 percent. The Network said that 38.1 percent of these attacks were committed by “unknown parties.”

The Syrian Coalition earlier said that the Assad regime’s systematic targeting of vital civilian centers is aimed at putting increasing pressure on the population and force them to surrender and agree to so-called reconciliation deals. It stressed that these attacks are one of the litany of the Assad regime’s war crimes and crimes against humanity.

According to the report, the attacks targeted four infrastructure facilities, six places of worship, four medical centers, four educational centers, one residential block, one IDPs camp, and one cultural center.

The figure has brought to 474 the number of attacks on vital civilian centers in Syria since the beginning of 2018, according to the Network. It noted that the majority of these attacks took place in January and February, with 136 and 156 attacks taking place in these months respectively. The attacks coincided with the Assad regime’s large-scale military campaign on eastern Ghouta.

The Network concluded its report by calling on the UN Security Council to force the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian allies to abide by Resolution 2139 and at the very least condemn the targeting of vital centers which are indispensable for the survival of civilians.

SNHR stressed the need to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on the Assad regime and expand the sanctions on the Assad regime to include Iran and Russia. It also called for referring Syria to the International Criminal Court to hold accountable those involved in the targeting of civilians. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that the Assad regime’s air force has dropped over 3,436 barrel bombs on Syrian civilians since the beginning of 2018. The regime extensively deploys this type of improvised weapon given its cheap cost and massive destructive power during its military campaigns.

In a new report issued on Tuesday, the Network said that the majority of these barrel bombs were used in March and April which coincided with the large-scale military campaigns in eastern Ghouta and then in northern rural Homs. The offensives ended with the mass forced displacement of the local population of the two areas.

The rights group went on to say that the Assad forces used 528 barrels in July, killing nine civilians. A barrel bomb attack targeted a shelter for the displaced.

According to the report, no fewer than 26,412 barrel bombs have hit rebel-held areas since the intervention of the Russian forces on the side of the Assad regime on September 30, 2015. Former Russian Ambassador to the United States, Vitaly Churkin, previously stated that the Assad forces would stop using this type of indiscriminate weapon.

The rights group pointed out that the Assad forces filled many of these barrel bombs with poison gas and incendiary substances such as Napalm, both internationally prohibited weapons. The attacks caused large fires to civilian homes and shops.

Many rights groups said that the Assad regime used this weapon to target vital civilian centers and populated areas, stressing that none of these attacks targeted rebel military positions.

The independent rights group confirmed that the Assad regime and its Russian ally carried on with their military operations and attacked Dara’a in July. The offensive in Dara’a saw extensive use of barrel bombs and intense Russian airstrikes with the aim of forcing civilians to flee their homes, SNHR added. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)

Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat won the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for his revolutionary positions and cartoons criticizing the decades-long tyranny of the Assad regime against the Syrian people.

In August 2011, the Assad regime’s security forces beat Ferzat badly in Damascus, breaking both his hands as “a warning” and confiscated his drawings. The first recipient of the prestigious award was the legendary activist Nelson Mandela.

"I have the honor to be awarded the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for the Defense of Freedom of Thought and Expression, which has already been awarded to South African leader Nelson Mandela," Ferzat wrote in comments on his Facebook page.

"This award is the equivalent to the Nobel Prize, especially since South African leader Nelson Mandela has already won it," Ferzat told local newspaper Inab Baladi.

Ferzat expressed his unwavering support for the Syrian Revolution and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) during a media campaign that activists launched in November 2016 under the title ‘the FSA is our choice.’

“The FSA and free Syria are two names that together constitute a crown resting over spikes of wheat, olives branches, jasmine roses and a moon that shines in a sky studded with the stars of the fallen heroes,” Ferzat said.

Assad’s security forces raided his house in Damascus in 2016 and destroyed many of his drawings.

Ferzat also won the Prince Claus Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2011 along with Syrian rights activist Razan Zaitouna, Asma Mahfouz from Egypt, Ahmed Zubayr Senoussi from Libya, and Mohamed Bouazizi from Tunisia.

In 2017, the Netherlands added a portrait of Ferzat to its school curriculum. A Dutch textbook included a lesson written in Dutch about the biography of Ferzat.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was established by the European Parliament in December 1988 to honor individuals and institutions dedicated to the defense of human rights and freedom of thought. It was named after the Soviet activist and nuclear scientist Andrea Sakharov.

Born in Hama in 1951, Farzat rose to prominence after winning many international and Arab awards. His drawings were published in many Syrian, Arab and international newspapers and magazines. In 2000, he began publishing the satirical newspaper Al-Dumari. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that it has recorded the arrest of 647 people in July, mostly by Assad forces. It said that the Assad regime pursues policies aimed at the intimidation of civilians and denying them their basic rights which were enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Network pointed out that 419 people were detained in areas under the control of the Assad regime, including 51 women and 36 children. Previous reports by the monitoring group contained lists of thousands of names of detainees who died under torture. The Assad regime has recently begun publishing these names with the aim of blackmailing families of the victims.

The Network pointed out that Assad forces and their allied militias conducted a large-scale arrest campaign in July, detaining civilians, government employees and university students aged between 18 and 42 years old for forced recruitment. The rights group stressed the need to keep focus on the issue of detainees as more than half a million Syrians, including women and children, have been detained since the beginning of the revolution. The fate of many of those is still unknown after they were forcibly disappeared.

The Network said that it had documented the names of more than 118,000 people who had been detained by the Assad regime since March 2011, adding that the real number could be much higher. It called on the international community and the UN Security Council to launch urgent, serious investigation into the issue of detainees. It also called upon the International Commission of Inquiry, the United Nations, and guarantors of the conflicting parties to fully assume their responsibilities towards the crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, the Assad regime continues to issue death notices for detainees who died under torture in its prisons. It has recently begun sending names of the deceased to civil registry departments. The lists included 1,000 names of detainees from the Damascus suburb of Darayya, 750 from Hasaka, 550 from Aleppo, and 30 from the town of Yabroud. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)

Crimes committed against detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime continue to be uncovered following the Assad regime’s sending of lists of the names of detainees who died under torture to the civil registry departments in Syrian provinces. The latest of these lists contained the name of Syrian writer Abdul Hadi Qashit.

The Syrian Coalition said that this a proof that the Assad regime does not distinguish between those who oppose it, whether they use weapons or pens. The regime considers anyone who criticizes or opposes as an enemy, the Coalition said.

The National Commission on Detainees and Missing Persons Yasser on Saturday called on Germany and France to form an international pressure group along with Turkey and friendly countries to urgently head to the UN Security Council in order to demand that the Assad regime release all detainees in its prisons. The Commission stressed that the Assad regime must not be allowed to commit further crimes against detainees, adding that the regime is exploiting the inaction of the international community.

Activists close to Qashit said that he had been subjected to constant harassment by Assad’s security services even before the revolution. Regime forces detained Qashit in Aleppo and nothing was heard about him ever since.

In October 2013, the Press Freedoms Committee of the Association of Syrian Journalists said that ten journalists died in the prisons of the regime. Name of Qashit appeared in a report the Association issued back then. According to local activists, Qashit was last seen in the Air Force Intelligence branch in Aleppo.

Born in Aleppo in 1967, Qashit was best known for writing short stories and essays in literary criticism. He won several prizes, including the first prize of the Arab Writers Union in Aleppo in 1998 for his story "A Letter to the Director General." He published a series of short stories under the title "Implications for the Conscience" which was his last work before the Assad regime ended his life under torture in its detention centers.

Recent weeks have seen widespread protests in Syria and abroad condemning the war crimes being committed by the Assad regime against detainees.

The Assad regime’s issuance of death notices for detainees in its prisons has been widely reported by international media outlets. Last week, German Welt newspaper published a report on victims of torture in the regime's prisons. It pointed out that the Assad regime is well aware that Iran and Russia will not give it up, so it will get rid of anyone who is perceived as an obstacle in its way of restoring full control of Syria. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)

Demonstrations took place in towns and villages of rural Aleppo to condemn the war crimes the Assad regime is committing against detainees as the regime continued to issue death notices for detainees who died under torture in its prisons.

Local activists said that human rights and media activists organized sit-in protests after Friday prayers in the towns of Marea and Souran in northern rural Aleppo. They held signs denouncing the widespread, systematic abuse and torture against detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime.

Residents of the town of Akhtarin also gathered in the central square chanting slogans condemning the international silence on the atrocities taking place in the prisons of the Assad regime. They called on the international community to exercise pressure on the Assad regime to release the remaining detainees in its prisons.

Residents of the towns of Hayyan, Al-Bab, and Azaz and in northern rural Aleppo also held funeral prayers for victims of torture in the prisons of the Assad regime.

Meanwhile, German Welt newspaper published a report on victims of torture in the regime's prisons. It pointed out that the Assad regime is well aware that Iran and Russia will not give it up, so it will get rid of anyone who is an obstacle in the way of restoring full control of Syria.

The newspaper said that the families of the deceased did not know anything about their loves ones for many years. The news of their death was an inevitable result of the repressive regime ruling over Syria, the newspaper said, noting that the Assad regime fully regained its repressive authority. The regime is now announcing the death of political prisoners without the slightest fear of consequences. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)

The Assad regime’s security services on Thursday launched an arrests campaign against dozens of young men in the villages of Lajat area northeast of Daraa. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the military that the Assad regime has launched against rebel-held areas in southern Syria since mid-June.

Local activists said that members of the Air Force Intelligence and militants of al-Nimr forces, which are commanded by officer Suhayl al-Hassan, raided several villages in Lajat area, including the towns of Sour, Asim, Buwair and Ruwaysat. They arrested more than 25 youngsters without clarifying the reason for the arrests.

Local sources pointed out that Assad’s forces stole gold, jewelry and cell phones from the houses they raided.

The arbitrary arrests campaign came after the Assad regime forces and their allies fully recaptured Dara’a province following a bloody military campaign in the south. Assad forces and their allies launched brutal bombing campaign in the area, targeting mainly civilian homes and vital infrastructure. Residents of the area were forced to agree to so-called reconciliations deals as a result.

The Syrian Coalition described these deals as war crimes and crimes against humanity as they were reached under the force of arms and through bombings and killings. It held the international community fully responsible given its silence and failure to enforce international resolutions on Syria.

The Coalition warned of the grim fate facing Syrian civilians who are likely to become victims of reprisal by the Assad regime, stressing the need to protect them and stand up to Russia in Syria. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that at least 542 people have been killed under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime since the beginning of 2018. It described torture of detainees as a systematic, deliberate policy that the Assad regime has been pursuing since 2011.

In a new reported issued on Thursday, the Network said that the victims included one child and one woman. The month of July saw a sharp increase in deaths resulting from torture in the prisons of the Assad regime. The Assad regime issued lists of names of detainees who died in its prisons without specifying the cause and place of death.

The report relied on testimonies of families of victims. The families received information on the fate of their loved ones through paying bribes to Assad regime officials as well as through search and monitoring.

The report pointed to difficulty of access to detention facilities, which makes it difficult to do an accurate documentation of deaths. The figures presented in the report represent a minimum of the violations against detainees. The lists of thousands of names that were received by civil registry departments contained names of detainees about whom nothing was known before.

The issuance of the death notices caused widespread outrage, the Network said. It called for forcing the Assad regime to give access to its detention facilities in order to expose the gross violations and crimes taking place against detainees.

Meanwhile, dozens of people held a sit-in in the town of Dabiq in rural Aleppo on Thursday. Participants held signs that read “stop the killing in the jails of death," "where is your humanity, countries claiming to defend humanity,” "release the detainees, and “where is international law?"

Coordination Committee of the Syrian revolution in Istanbul and the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison on Thursday called for holding a demonstration on Friday to denounce the crimes being committed by the Assad regime against detainees in its prisons.

The demonstration will be held under the title "Day of Rage for Victims of Torture in Assad's Prisons." Organizers of the demonstration called on Syrian activists and human rights organizations to gather in Istiklal Street in the Turkish city of Istanbul to convey the voice of the remaining detainees in Assad’s prisons and expose the Assad regime’s crimes against detainees as well as its crackdown on freedom of expression. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that the collapse of the ‘de-escalation zones’ agreement in southern Syria was another failure of the UN Security Council as it failed to maintain security and peace in the war-torn country. The Network pointed out that the United States was equally responsible with Russia for the disaster that befell the south.

In a report released on Tuesday, the monitoring group pointed out that the US was a partner in the disaster through its sudden abandonment of its commitment to maintain calm in southern Syria. It noted that US President Donald Trump did not raise Russia and the Assad regime’s blatant violations of the ‘de-escalation zones’ agreement during the Helsinki summit with his Russian counterpart.

The Network said that at least 281 civilians, including 84 children and 63 women, were killed in the offensive the Assad regime and Russia launched in southern Syria.

The report indicated that the attacking forces committed 12 massacres in southern Syria. It said it recorded no fewer than 25 attacks on vital civilian centers, including eight attacks on medical facilities. Moreover, 86 arrests were recorded in Dara’a province after it fell to the Assad regime forces.

Assad regime helicopters dropped over 862 barrel bombs on rebel-held areas in the south, the Network said. The onslaught on the area also displaced 340,000 people, some of whom were forced to return to areas covered by local ‘reconciliation’ agreements.

In mid-June, the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian allies launched a large-scale military offensive in Dara’a and Quneitra provinces, carrying out intensive aerial bombardment as well as artillery and rocket shelling on rebel-held areas. The bombings, in which internationally prohibited weapons were used, targeted mainly vital civilian centers and residential areas, forcing around 350,000 people to flee towards relatively safer areas near the southern borders. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)